


Say My Name

by TDKeh16



Category: Demon of the Underground (Webcomic)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Coffee Shops & Cafés, Awkward Flirting, Belmont is dramatic as usual, Chirping as Flirting, M/M, Merritt is a little shit lol, Merritt is a nerd about water
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-06
Updated: 2020-08-06
Packaged: 2021-03-06 02:28:46
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,450
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25755892
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TDKeh16/pseuds/TDKeh16
Summary: Obligatory coffeeshop AU. The cute barista at the cafe Belmont visits every morning NEVER gets his name right. It's beginning to get under his skin, but is that Merritt's intention...?-----Merritt's relief quickly turned into a grin. "I know your name. Grant Belmont. You've been pretty set on reminding me every morning."Belmont scoffed out a laugh. "Can't seem to grasp how to spell it, though.""G-R-A-N-T B-E-L-M-O-N-T," Merritt answered quickly, then raised a curious eyebrow. "Right?""Then what about this?" Belmont turned the writing on his cup towards Merritt. "Glant Benmort?"Merritt gasped. "Have you been taking Glant Benmort's coffees by accident? He's going to be LIVID."
Relationships: Belmont/Merritt (Demon of the Underground)
Comments: 12
Kudos: 21





	Say My Name

**Author's Note:**

> What's a fandom without a coffeeshop au, am I right? Here's a fic about Merritt having a little too much fun with the name of his new favourite customer lol
> 
> \---
> 
> Seriously, check out the webcomic "Demon of the Underground" and the prequel books "Devoted: Merritt's Story" to learn why I love these two idiot goobers so much.

"This is ridiculous!"

"Mmhm," Mannheim said without looking up from his phone.

"Look at it! I can't-- How is this guy so fucking incapable of getting my name right?" Belmont sat down in a huff and dropped his coffee from an inch above the table -- not far enough to risk spilling it, but enough for the bottom of the paper cup to make a clunk sound.

"He always gets my name right. Only one who does. Usually people forget the second N, or write 'Mannhiem' or something. Spikey-haired guy gets it right every time." Mannheim shrugged.

"You didn't look at it. Look! He wrote ' _Ballmunt!_ ' That's not a name!"

"Just drink your coffee, Grant. It's going to get cold."

"He should know my name. There's no way he doesn't know my name. This has to be on purpose."

"You say that like 'Belmont' is common. Why don't you give your first name and give the guy a chance."

"I did! Last week! He wrote 'Garnt' on my cup. That asshole apparently thinks my name is Garnt Ballmunt."

Mannheim grinned. "It has a ring to it."

"Shut up. Who asked you anyway?"

"So now what? You're going to get the poor guy fired because he doesn't know how to spell your name?"

"No, I... hm. Let me think." Belmont finally sipped his coffee. "Damn this is good coffee."

Mannheim sighed. "So are you going to get over the name thing?"

"...No."

" _Grant_."

Belmont waved his hand to dismiss his best friend's protest. "I'm going to make sure he learns my name." He drummed his fingers along the side of his cup.

"Or we could go to that other café across the street because this doesn't matter at all."

"You can go there if you want. I'm going to start coming here _twice_ a day until he gets my name... then he'll get my number."

Mannheim rolled his eyes. "His reward for learning your name is a date with you?"

"Obviously."

"I--" Mannheim stood and shook his head. "Nope. I can’t do this so early in the morning. I'll see you in the office."

Belmont raised an eyebrow. "You don't want to watch me make my move? You might learn something."

"I’ve been watching you 'make your move' for the past 20 years. You're still single." Mannheim patted Belmont's shoulder on his way out the door.

Belmont scoffed and slouched in his chair, stretching out his long legs. He took a gulp of coffee and looked around the room. His eyes landed on the spikey-haired barista who always got his name wrong, and Belmont was surprised to find him looking back. 

The barista quickly smiled and looked away, busying himself with restocking sugar packets. Belmont grinned. "I saw that, honey."

Belmont caught him looking his way three more times before his coffee was finished. When the other employee went to take a break, Belmont made his move. He strolled up to the counter and leaned on it, waiting for the cute barista to come over.

"Is there something else I can help you with today?" The barista approached with an impossibly dorky smile. His name tag said his name was Merritt.

"There is indeed... _Merritt_ ," Belmont made a show of reading his name tag, then smoothly produced a business card from his pocket. "Grant Belmont."

"Nice to meet you, Grant Belmont." Merritt smiled as he looked at the card in his hand, then promptly dropped it into the jar on the counter. "Good luck!"

"What?"

"For the draw. We pick a business card at the end of every month and if we draw your name you get a free panini!"

"A panini," Belmont said, stone-faced. 

"Maybe this will be your lucky day!"

"Maybe..." Belmont pulled another business card and handed it to Merritt again.

"Oh. You're actually only allowed to enter once," Merritt said as he attempted to hand back the card.

"No, no. That one's for you. It has my personal number on there too. See? Right under 'Grant Belmont,' my name."

"I _do_ see that. Thank you?" Merritt shoved the card in his pocket, slightly confused. "Would you like to order something else?"

"Another black coffee. Large. Two shots of espresso." Belmont tossed his cup in the trash next to the register.

"Oh! We do same-visit refills here, you know. I'd have to charge you for the espresso, but if you reuse your cups it only costs a dollar."

"That's okay. I want a new cup." Belmont slid a five dollar bill across the counter. 

"And what name should I write on the cup?" Merritt asked.

"Well, my full name is Grant Belmont -- that's Belmont with one L -- so either of those names work."

"Coming right up." Merritt winked and picked up a new cup and a thin black marker. Belmont craned his neck to catch a glimpse of the name he chose to write but was unsuccessful. "You can take a seat again. If no other customers come I can bring it right out to you, but my friend is on her break so if another customer comes I'll just leave it over there on the counter for you."

"And when do _you_ get a break?"

"Usually not until around 9am or so."

That wouldn't work. There was no way Belmont could get away with waiting around for another hour. Maybe he could start work early the next day so he could justify taking a break that early. Belmont returned to his table without another word, while he tried to figure out a plan of action.

Merritt arrived a minute later, new coffee in hand. "Here you go, sir. Enjoy. I-- oh! There's another customer, gotta go!"

Belmont didn't even have a chance to say his thanks before Merritt was gone again. Oh well, at least if he was going to be walking into his morning meeting late, his name would finally be spelled correctly on his cup. Belmont turned it around and froze when he saw what was printed on there.

" _Grunt Blemont?!_ " Belmont hissed. He picked up his cup and stormed out of the café.

*** One Week Later ***

_Glant Benmort_. Belmont was seething, but when he looked back at the counter he found Merritt glancing over at him with that sweet dorky smile. It made it hard to stay mad at him, but Belmont was still annoyed.

To make matters worse, Merritt was paired up alongside his coworker Ellis that morning. Unfortunately, Ellis had been the employee Belmont had asked about Merritt the day before. Belmont didn't understand what was so wrong with asking Ellis if his friend could read -- he had a collection of coffee cups in his office that suggested otherwise -- but evidently it had offended him on Merritt's behalf. For every cute smile Merritt flashed him, Belmont knew Ellis was glaring daggers at him.

A boyfriend, maybe? They certainly seemed to get along well. Whatever hostility Ellis was sending Belmont's way, he was all smiles with Merritt. They made for an attractive couple, that's for sure. Maybe they could be persuaded to have a threesome at least? No. Belmont was getting ahead of himself. He didn't even know if they were a couple. For all he knew, Merritt could be straight. Although that seemed doubtful.

Belmont looked down at the incorrect name on his cup again and felt his irritation spike. He looked over at the counter and once more caught a glimpse of Merritt smiling at him. Or wait. Was that a hint of a smirk as he turned away? It had to be on purpose. 

Belmont glanced back at the counter but Merritt was gone. Damn it! Had he gone on his break without Belmont getting a chance to invite him over to his table? He had been hoping that Ellis would go first to give him an opening with Merritt. 

"Would you like to try a sample of our peppermint mocha?" Merritt asked, standing beside his table with a tray of small cups.

"I don't have much of a sweet tooth."

"Me neither, but this isn't too bad as a little treat now and then. Are you sure you don't want to try it? I have two samples left and I'm pretty sure the one on the right has your name on it."

Belmont laughed. "I _highly_ doubt that."

"Oh?"

"I'll tell you what," Belmont started as he pushed the empty chair opposite him back from the table with his foot. "I'll try it if you join me by drinking the other one."

Merritt smiled, then hesitated. "We're not really supposed to drink the samples ourselves. It's a promotion to generate interest amongst the customers..."

"I am very interested, I assure you -- but I hate drinking alone."

"You drink two large coffees alone here every day-- oh no." Merritt's eyes went wide as though he had realized something only in that moment. "I didn't mean to-- Was he-- Break ups are tough, I'm sorry."

"Break ups? Are you talking about me?"

Merritt set his tray on the table and sat down in the other chair. He whispered, "you used to come in here every morning with your friend, I assumed something happened because he hasn't joined you in about a week. Mannheim, I think?"

Belmont choked on his sip of coffee. " _Mannheim?!_ Ew. No. Ugh. _NO_. I've know that guy since we were little kids. We've definitely never been together and there's no break up to speak of. He just got sick of hearing me bitch about how you don't know my name."

Merritt's relief quickly turned into a grin. "I know your name. Grant Belmont. You've been pretty set on reminding me every morning."

Belmont scoffed out a laugh. "Can't seem to grasp how to spell it, though."

"G-R-A-N-T B-E-L-M-O-N-T," Merritt answered quickly, then raised a curious eyebrow. "Right?"

"Then what about this?" Belmont turned the writing on his cup towards Merritt. "Glant Benmort?"

Merritt gasped. "Have you been taking Glant Benmort's coffees by accident? He's going to be _livid_."

Belmont chuckled. "What? So you've really just been fucking with me for the past two weeks?"

"It's cute when you get flustered. Fun! It's _fun_ when you get flustered," Merritt attempted to correct himself.

Belmont raised an eyebrow. "Cute?"

Merritt blushed and tried to push past it. "The first time was an honest mistake, and the next time when you gave me just your first name I had such a line up of customers behind you that I was writing as fast as I could and I think I wrote 'Garnt' instead? And Balbo likes to play this game where--" Merritt stopped mid-sentence.

"What's wrong?"

"Forget I said her name. Please. This was all me. I don't want to get her in trouble."

"You think I'm going to complain to management that my name isn't spelled right on my cup?"

"Actually... You seem like the type who might."

Belmont scoffed. "Well, I _won't_ , so continue your story."

"Okay, so, one of my coworkers likes to play a game where we purposely try to spell a customer's name wrong to keep things interesting on slow days. And you always had such dramatic reactions..." Merritt bit his bottom lip to hold back a smile and shrugged his shoulders.

"You think I'm _dramatic?_ " Belmont asked, aghast. Merritt simply raised a pierced eyebrow in response. Belmont sighed. "Point taken."

"These samples are pretty cold now I bet, but... bottoms up?" Merritt picked up one of the small paper cups and waited for Belmont to do the same, then he tapped them silently together. "It's not as satisfying without the clink sound." He laughed.

"Maybe I should take you for dinner so we can do this with wine glasses instead."

Merritt's eyes went wide. "Dinner?"

"No good? Is your boyfriend over there going to get jealous?"

"Who, Ellis? No, he's not my boyfriend. That-- No, no. We're just friends."

" _But_...?"

"Dinner would be nice," Merritt finished. "Oh, I'm single."

Belmont chuckled. "Good to know."

"My break is over now, but give me a call sometime and we can figure something out."

Belmont put a hand out to stop Merritt from walking away just yet. "I might need your number honey, if you want me to call you."

Merritt grinned and looked down at the sample cup Belmont had just drank from. "You make such a habit of reading what I write on your cups, yet you didn't read this one?"

Belmont turned the cup around to find a phone number written on the side that had been angled away from him. "What would you have done if some other customer before me had grabbed that sample?"

"Did I offer samples to everyone? Or did I just walk over here with two as an excuse to spend my break talking to you?"

Belmont grinned. "Well, aren't you full of surprises?"

"I don't know if I'm ' _full_ of surprises' -- but I do have a few tricks up my sleeve." Merritt flashed a dorky, toothy grin. 

Fuck, why did that stupid smile make him even hotter? How did it make him hotter? It was definitely cute, but hot? No. Belmont decided that the hotness factor was raised by the reason for Merritt's smile, not the smile itself. This guy had been purposely fucking with Belmont for over two weeks, and for some reason his brain found that sexy. It wasn't worth dwelling on the why of all that. 

"What time are you off work?"

"Two o'clock."

"Fuck. That's way too early for me. Any chance you want to meet back here around 6-ish? My office is just down the street. Maybe we can start with grabbing a cup of coffee -- not from here -- and go from there."

"I actually don't like coffee," Merritt admitted with another smile.

"But you work in a coffee shop -- and you just drank coffee with me like 2 minutes ago."

Merritt laughed. "That doesn't really count, does it?"

"What do you like to drink then?"

"Oh? Uh, water."

"Water," Belmont repeated in disbelief. "Are you fucking with me again?"

Merritt shook his head vigorously. "No, really! Actually, this place has pretty great water. Want to try it? I could pour you a cup!"

Belmont stared at him, unable to figure out an appropriate reaction. 

"Is... that a no?" 

"Wow. You're not kidding?"

"I never joke about tap water."

Belmont guffawed at the serious expression on Merritt's face. "Well, I guess I have to try it for myself."

"You won't regret it!" Merritt beamed and hurried off to pour the water. Belmont heard Merritt excitedly explaining to Ellis that he wanted to try the water followed by "I think he asked me on a date?"

_He thinks?_ Belmont could not have more clearly asked him on a date. Merritt even specified that he was single when he agreed to the date.

"I have a water here for Bullmint?" Merritt called out, grinning when Belmont begrudgingly got out of his chair. 

"That's for me, I take it?"

"Is your name Bullmint?" Merritt couldn’t even get through the question without grinning.

"You know it isn't, and yet..." Belmont said, causing Merritt to snicker. "You are _fascinating_ , you know that?"

Merritt was at a loss for how to respond to that compliment. At least he was pretty sure it was a compliment. Belmont was smiling at him. "Fascinating?" Merritt repeated.

"I'm usually pretty good at figuring people out, but I can't put my finger on you."

Merritt shrugged. "You should at least buy me dinner first before thinking about where you want to put your fingers."

"See? That's exactly what I'm talking about. One minute you're telling your friend that you _think_ I asked you on a date, the next you're making a flirty joke like that." Belmont said in a hushed tone, grinning the entire time. "Look, for the record? I'm entirely in either way, but I'm dying to know -- what's your angle? What are you trying to get out of this?"

"A date tonight, I thought."

"You've tormented me for two weeks, you're a huge nerd about water apparently, you're confident enough to pull that little trick with your phone number... Who is the _real_ Merritt?" Belmont asked.

"First of all, the way I 'tormented' you was with typos on a coffee cup, so settle down." Merritt grinned, and Belmont laughed. "Secondly, I guess you'll have to wait to get to know me on our date. And most importantly, how is the water?"

"Unbelievable."

"Right? It's so good!"

Belmont had meant that 'unbelievable' for Merritt, not the glass of water in his hand, but he went with the moment. He took another sip, and chanced that his next question wouldn't seem strange to the man who was legitimately excited about this water. "Where is the best water you've ever tasted?"

"Oh, that's a good question..."

Was it? Really?

Before Merritt could answer, a group of college students walked in the door. Not only did that mean that Merritt was about to get busy, but it also meant that Belmont was going to be late for work. He checked his watch. "Fuck. I gotta go. Guess I'll have to wait to get your answer."

"I guess so." Merritt smiled. "See you at six?"

"Yeah, I'll-- oh, fuck--" Belmont hurried back to his table and collected his coffee cup and the sample mocha cup, then returned for the water. He double checked that the phone number on the small sample cup was still legible. "I'll text you if I'm running late."

"Okay." Merritt smiled his impossibly dorky smile. "I'll see you tonight."

Belmont hurried to his office with a spring in his step. Not even Wolfram's question about why he was carrying three different cups could get to him. His response of "Fuck off, Wolfie," was lacking its usual bite. 

Fuck. Belmont had been on plenty of dates in his day -- and even more "dates" -- but he couldn't recall a time he felt this excited for one. He set the cups down on his desk and quickly entered the phone number into his contacts, dismayed to discover he already had someone listed under "cute barista" in his phone.

Belmont scoffed at his past self for thinking any other barista was cute while Merritt had been out there somewhere in the world. Sheer ignorance. He typed in Merritt by name instead, a rare occurrence in his phone. For good measure, Belmont also deleted whoever the old "cute barista" was, too. He also found himself deleting "cute cashier", "cute delivery guy", and "cute dentist" before a knock at his office door got his attention.

"Hurry up, the meeting is starting in 5 minutes," Mannheim said from the doorway.

"Save me a seat, will you? I can't take another morning stuck sitting between fucking Pratt and fucking Evans." Belmont glanced down at his phone and tried not to think too much about why he was suddenly so motivated to clear his contact list of his previous hook-ups. "Nevermind, I'll come with you right now." 

Belmont took a final sip of water and brought his coffee with him to the board room. He took a seat next to his friend and contemplated sending a quick text to Merritt, but didn't want to seem desperate. And what if the number he was given was fake? No, it had to be legitimate. Merritt offered his phone number before Belmont had even asked, so there would be no reason to throw him off with a fake number.

Mannheim snorted when he saw "Glant Benmort" written on Belmont's coffee cup. "Just give up, man. No way that guy is gonna learn your name."

"Oh, he knows my name. We have a date tonight."

"Sure."

"It's true. I-- speak of the devil..." Belmont grinned when a text from Merritt appeared on his phone.

_Congratulations, Grant Belmont!_

_For finally getting your number?_ Belmont grinned wider as he typed out his reply. _How did you get MY number?_

_From your business card. You are the lucky winner of a free panini!_

Belmont let out a surprised laugh before he could control himself. Attached to Merritt's last text was indeed a voucher for a free panini, made out to "Grunt Bilmnat" instead.

"Quit smiling, you idiot. You know what this place does to any traces of joy." Mannheim jabbed him in the side with his elbow. "Blood in the water."

"Can't help it. Look what he just sent me," Belmont proudly showed Mannheim the coupon on his phone.

"You _sure_ he knows your name?"

"Definitely, but I think he might be a bit of an asshole."

"Sounds like a perfect match, then."

"Fuck you," Belmont replied with a chuckle.

**Author's Note:**

> Mannheim: "So... a real date, huh? Been a while since you had one of those. Where are you going?"  
> Belmont: "I don't know yet. I was trying to get him to tell me the name of the place with his favourite water but he got a bunch of customers and I couldn't wait around to hear the answer."  
> Mannheim: "What the fuck? Did you say 'favourite WATER'?"  
> Belmont: "Heh. Yeah."  
> Mannheim: "Grant..."  
> Belmont: "I'm sure it will be fine."


End file.
